A Good Kiss: Interview with C. B. Lee

The beauty of Star Wars lies within its ability to expand itself through new storytelling with exotic locations and multiple background characters—allowing its fans to see themselves within the richness. From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back is a statement to that richness—collecting never-heard-before stories of unsung heroes. A Good Kiss, written by C. B. Lee is among them—featuring the tale of a background character carrying a cargo box around Echo Base and through one of Han Solo and Leia Organa’s romantically tensed arguments during the first minutes of The Empire Strikes Back.

“Del Rey Editor Tom [Hoeler] reached out to my agent Thao Le and asked ‘Would C. B. be interested in participating in From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back?’ Then she sent me that email, and I immediately replied with screaming gifs of me going like, ‘Yes, I would love to!’ She gave me the pitch about the book and asked, ‘Do you have any characters you want to write about?’ The very first character that I thought of was this guy between Han and Leia in that scene from Empire … that’s who I wanted to write about,” Lee shared in an interview with TatooineTimes.com.

Lee talked about the development process for writing A Good Kiss—from the brief cameo of Chase Wilsorr in the movie to the full-fledged story of the unsung hero.

“We don’t know hardly anything about him. Not his name, nor what he’s doing. All we know is that he’s carrying a box around Echo Base and he’s part of the Rebellion. What really drew me to him was this sheer audacity of him walking between Han and Leia while they’re having a heated argument,” Lee reflected. “I wanted to tell his story so badly and figure out what kind of person he is and what kind of job he would have, but most importantly how he would feel about witnessing just the snippets of that moment … that really became the basis for Chase’s story.”

Chase Wilsorr grabs inspiration from Be Your Best Self, which ultimately serves as a morale for the story. The author reflects on the importance of having dreams and to keep pursuing them, no matter what challenges might lay ahead.

“Chase is this awkward guy who’s had a lot of challenges in his life … he failed basic training, he’s very clumsy, he’s not Han Solo, nor Luke Skywalker. He is not great at being a Rebel, and he’s not a pilot. He can’t even ride a tauntaun. I really connected to this awkward disaster,” Lee said. “I invented this self-help book within the Star Wars universe because Chase wants to be better, but he doesn’t know how. He’s judging himself a lot for not being a hero like Han or Luke. He’s not a hero, but he wants to be one, and that’s one of the reasons why he joined the Rebellion in the first place … he had this intense need to prove himself, but kept failing because of self-judgement. He thinks he has to be this amazing soldier, but instead he’s forced to do all these things he’s good at but doesn’t see the value in them until the moment where everything is chaos. He eventually gets a chance to shine a little bit, and so it was really fun to write his big hero moment. I wanted to show that you are valuable because you exist through this story. There’s so much pressure on people nowadays, especially for young people who are still trying to figure things out. The definition of success is very rigid in our society.”

The author reflected upon the importance of inclusivity within the Star Wars universe—especially the representation of both the LGBTQ and the Asian community.

“It was really important to me—being queer myself and loving Star Wars since I was a kid. It’s so powerful to see yourself in these stories. For a long time growing up I didn’t see anybody who was like me, who looked like me, who felt like me portrayed in a positive way. I wanted adventure, to be the chosen one, to be able to see the possibility of a happy ending and yourself as a hero,” Lee said. “I think Star Wars is one of those amazing universes where you can see yourself in it. When the new trilogy came out with two Vietnamese American actresses playing characters—Rose and Page Tico—who have pivotal roles, getting to see them being badass … just being present was really meaningful to me, and I think that was a moment for a lot of people. Star Wars is for everyone. It’s incredibly validating, I think. And that’s why I wrote Chase Wilsorr.”

Make sure to grab your own copy of From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back and don’t forget to follow C. B. Lee on Twitter and Instagram.